For some former kar sevaks bringing down the Babri Masjid is now no longer a matter of pride but one of anguish. Once fiercely determined to the cause of the Ram temple these men have have embraced Islam in a bid to find forgiveness.

Balbir Singh is a case in point. This former Shiv Sena leader from Panipat made history as he climbed atop the raized Babri Masjid, on a dateline India will never forget — December 6, 1992. Today, Singh is now better known as Mohammed Aamir and his colleague, Yogendra Pal, Mohammed Umar. Both of them have vowed to construct and renovate 100 mosques during their lifetime as repentance for what they had done. So far, Singh, now Aamir, says, they have managed 40.

Singh's transformation is all the more dramatic as he is known as the first karsevak on the dome to raze the Babri mosque for which he received a hero's welcome as he returned to his home town, Panipat. Two bricks were carried back by him which are still kept in the Shiv Sena's office there.

It was when he was in Deoband to assassinate Muslim cleric, Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui that he changed. After listening to the religious sermons of the Maulana, Singh confronted him not as an enemy but as someone "who had sinned against the house of God." It was then he embraced Islam. But the conversion has not been easy. Today, Aamir, has left his home town Panipat far behind to settle in Hyderabad where he is married to a Muslim lady. In another twist of fate, Aamir also runs a school to spread the teachings of Islam.

It isn't just Balbir Singh or Yogendra Pal that are haunted by their past, other kar sevaks too are doing their best to exorcise the memories of shame and guilt. Shive Prasad, a former youth leader of the Bajrang Dal in Ayodhya, is one of them. Prasad had given training to about 4,000 kar sevaks and he and his team had actively participated in pulling down the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992.

Within a year after the demolition, Prasad went deep into depression, suffering bouts of hallucination, blaming himself for having committed an "unforgivable sin." Prasad visited psychiatrists, tantriks and saints but there was no peace in his mind. For the next five years, he lived the life of a recluse and in 1997, he went to Sharjah to seek employment In 1999, he formally embraced Islam in Sharjah and became Mohammed Mustafa.

But Mustafa's journey towards atonement has not been easy. He has been ostracised by his family and the Sangh Parivar has threatened to kill him should he ever return to India. Repentance, it seems, has come at a heavy cost.

Balbir Singh is a case in point. This former Shiv Sena leader from Panipat made history as he climbed atop the raized Babri Masjid, on a dateline India will never forget — December 6, 1992. Today, Singh is now better known as Mohammed Aamir and his colleague, Yogendra Pal, Mohammed Umar. Both of them have vowed to construct and renovate 100 mosques during their lifetime as repentance for what they had done. So far, Singh, now Aamir, says, they have managed 40.

Click to expand...

This is not Christianity or other religions. In Islam, just regretting your sin and asking for forgiveness is enough.

It was when he was in Deoband to assassinate Muslim cleric, Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui that he changed. After listening to the religious sermons of the Maulana, Singh confronted him not as an enemy but as someone "who had sinned against the house of God." It was then he embraced Islam. But the conversion has not been easy. Today, Aamir, has left his home town Panipat far behind to settle in Hyderabad where he is married to a Muslim lady. In another twist of fate, Aamir also runs a school to spread the teachings of Islam.

Click to expand...

Reminds me of how most of our Prophet Muhammad (SAW)'s enemies converted to Islam.

FactCheck: How reliable are reports about Kar Sevaks converting to Islam to atone for Babri demolition

On 6th December, the nation marked the 25th anniversary of Babri Masjid’s demolition. To mark the occasion, DNA published an article titled, “Responsible for razing Babri Masjid, 3 guilt-ridden karsevaks have embraced Islam”. This article was incidentally written by a journalist named Srawan Shukla.

Shukla had attained notoriety in August after he had tried to portray Dr. Kafeel Khan, the doctor on duty when 33 children died due to disruption of oxygen supply in Gorakhpur’s Baba Raghav Das Medical College, as some sort of a hero.

Within a few hours of Shukla’s report, it was reported that the “hero” had been sacked from his post. An FIR was lodged under various sections of the IPC, Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Medical Council Act. Meanwhile social media users had also dug up tales of his murky past.

Shukla though didn’t give up and filed a new report on 25th November by declaring the same doctor as “Not a villain”, by claiming that the charges against Khan were dropped. Even though the title tried to make Khan some some sort of a phoenix rising from the ashes, the truth of the matter was that he continued to be charged under the sections for criminal conspiracy, attempt to commit culpable homicide and criminal breach of trust by public servant, which some might say is barely heroic.

DNA too later acknowledged this mistake after we pointed out this chicanery, and changed the title to portray the true nature of events.

When Shukla, who clearly doesn’t seem to regard journalistic ethics too highly, wrote an article about converted Karsevaks, we decided to investigate.

The report focuses on three major characters named, Balbir Singh, Yogendra Pal and Shive Prasad who converted to Islam after demolishing the Babri Masjid. Reporter Shukla proceeds to tell colourful stories about how Balbir Singh a former Shiv Sena leader after demolishing the Masjid, had gone to assassinate a Muslim cleric in Deoband. But after listening to his sermons, rather than killing him, Balbir took refuge in him and converted. After turning into Mohammed Aamir he and his colleague Yogendra Pal (who too converted to Islam), vowed to construct and renovate 100 mosques as a ‘repentance’.

In the same report, reporter Shukla them claims how a Bajrangi Dal leader named Shive Prasad had gone into depression and suffered bouts of hallucination for his contribution towards this demolition. As per Shukla, he visited psychiatrists, tantriks and saints but he didn’t find mental piece and finally in 1999 embraced Islam in Sharjah where he had gone to seek employment. He though might still not have been able to find mental peace as according to Shukla, the RSS has threatened to kill him if he ever returns to India.

The way the DNA report was written, it appeared that Shukla had not talked in person to any of these ‘kar sevaks’ and his report could entirely be based on secondary sources.

So what are these “sources”, we tried to dig out.

When it comes to Shive Prasad, only relevant sources that Google throws (apart from the DNA report) are of obscure Islamic websites and a forum called Hindustan.in where one user had posted Shive’s story to enquire about its authenticity (it was met with amused reactions):

The only ones living la la land are you and other hindutva clowns like you. There are articles out on internet who prove that how you spend your whole life spreading lies to justify and prove your bogus stupid dogma.

The fact-checkers come from various backgrounds — some are former journalists, others are software geeks, and some are just concerned citizens. Many fake news stories appear to support India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its right-wing Hindu nationalist agenda, said Jency Jacob, managing editor for boomlive.in, a fact-checking website. “If we don’t do something, it will be too late,” Jacob said. “Political parties would love to use this for their own benefit and we need to intervene.”